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SOUTH TURTLE LAKE, Minn. - How do you sneak up on a loon? That's the question this night as wildlife scientists slide a boat into South Turtle Lake, a few miles east of Fergus Falls. The biologists want to know why so many of the iconic birds die of botulism poisoning on the Great Lakes every fall. They want to learn more about environmental toxins loons face on their long annual migration. But first they have to catch them.

Tim Post MPR News 91.3 FM PLUMMER — The Oklee and Plummer schools in northwestern Minnesota shared sports teams and resources for nearly a decade. So when officials sought to merge the small town schools into a single district to save money, voters in June didn’t blink. Many thought the districts were already merged. "They just felt it was a natural time to put it together — let’s build a future now as one instead of two districts," said Jim Guetter, superintendent of the remade Red Lake County Central district. School district mergers don’t often go so smoothly.

By Elizabeth Stawicki MPR News 91.3 FM. MINNEAPOLIS — When Samuel Alcocer arrived at the reception desk of a North Minneapolis clinic with a swollen cheek in 1996, he was desperate for relief. One of his wisdom teeth had erupted into a throbbing, painful ache. At the time, Alcocer, a native of Santa Cruz in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, spoke no English. No one at the clinic spoke Spanish. So he and the receptionist resorted to gestures, to little avail. "I was pointing hands to my face," said Alcocer, who remembers the day vididly.

Dan Kraker MPR News 91.3 FM LAKE OF THE WOODS COUNTY — Minnesota’s coniferous trees are facing newly formidable foes: beetles. Stately, tall white pines all over the state and the tamaracks of northeastern Minnesota have had their natural defenses from beetles weakened. Scientists suspect climate change is to blame in both cases. The beetles’ rise is proof that the transformation of Minnesota’s forests isn’t a simple matter of some tree species handling warmer temperatures better than others.

Catharine Richert MPR News 91.3 FM ST. PAUL — No state is set to embrace the Affordable Care Act as thoroughly as Minnesota, the only one that will implement the "big three" components of health insurance expansion. That means Minnesota will expand the Medicaid program, develop an online insurance marketplace and offer a basic health program. It’s the third component that really sets the state apart.